Validity of self-reported weight, height, and BMI in mothers of the research Birth in Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the accuracy of information on pre-gestational weight, height, pre-gestational body mass index, and weight at the last prenatal appointment, according to maternal characteristics and sociodemographic and prenatal variables. METHODS: The study was developed using data from the face-to-face questionnaire and prenatal card (gold standard) of the study “Birth in Brazil, 2011–2012”. To evaluate the differences between the measured and self-reported anthropometric variables, we used the the Kruskal-Wallis test for the variables divided into quartiles. For the continuous variables, we used the Wilcoxon test, Bland-Altman plot, and average difference between the information measured and reported by the women. We estimated sensitivity and the intraclass correlation coefficient. RESULTS: In the study, 17,093 women had the prenatal card. There was an underestimation of pre-gestational weight of 1.51 kg (SD = 3.44) and body mass index of 0.79 kg/m(2) (SD = 1.72) and overestimation of height of 0.75 cm (SD = 3.03) and weight at the last appointment of 0.22 kg (SD = 2.09). The intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) obtained for the anthropometric variables were: height (ICC = 0.89), pre-gestational weight (ICC = 0.96), pre-gestational body mass index (ICC = 0.92), and weight at the last appointment (ICC = 0.98). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the mentioned anthropometric variables were valid for the study population, and they may be used in studies of populations with similar characteristics.